Jesus told his followers something really shocking: "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me." (Luke (9:23). And in Luke 14:27, the saying is in reverse: "And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you
cannot be my disciple." In the rest of that passage in Luke 9, he's telling people not to hang
onto their own lives, but give up everything for him. In chapter 14,
perhaps because it's so much nearer his own
suffering, he is careful to spell out the self-sacrifice he has in mind, and it's total!
In that culture, the cross was an instrument of Roman torture, and criminals were forced to pick up the top piece they would be nailed to, on the way to their execution -- so for those listening to him, this was a symbol of certain death. Not a simple, casual comfortable death either, but slow and painful and deliberate. So did Jesus mean we all must be martyred, suffering like he did? Or something else?
"Turn from your selfish ways" is "deny yourselves" in other translations, and the concept seems to be letting go of our self-will and even our own comforts and security (see Luke 9:3). It's the same sort of idea that Paul writes in Philippians 2:3-8, that Jesus "humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." We might compare it to camping out without any power, plumbing or heat. Seeing Jesus' self-denial is part of understanding just how much he gave up to save us.
The season of Lent is 40 days of self-examination traditional in some churches before Easter. During that time, people give up meat, chocolate, watching sports, etc. as a way of "sacrificing" in common with Jesus. That might be painful for us in some ways, but let's face it, that's nothing at all compared to the self-emptying of the Son of God as he came into human flesh. But we can also think of any self-denial we practice as a way to remind ourselves -- as we're tempted to go back to that thing -- how very much our flesh betrays us, and how far short we are, on our own, of God's ideal for us which was only realized in Jesus. Meditating on that reality, every day or more often, should drive us right back to the Source of all things: Jesus Christ.
No, you aren't more righteous by giving up something for Lent, although any sacrifice like that can be a tool for realizing just how un-righteous we are! So whether you give up something or not, let's be aware of the enormous gift of self-sacrifice Jesus made for us, and how completely we depend on him for everything.
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